Republican Scott Wagner’s decision to run a write-in campaign in the March 18 special election for a state Senate seat representing York County rankles two of his fellow Republicans.

Zachary Hearn and William “Ande” Anderson, both GOP candidates running in the Republican primary in May for that Senate seat, say Wagner’s intervention in the special election could split the Republican vote and result in a victory for Democratic nominee Linda Small over Republican nominee Ron Miller.

View full size Zack Hearn of Windsor Twp., a Republican candidate vying in the May 20 primary for the 28th state senatorial district seat, said Scott Wagner's special election write-in campaign could throw the seat to the Democrats.Submitted photo

“If Mr. Wagner is truly concerned over the future of York County and Pennsylvania, then reason would suggest that he would prefer to have a Republican seated in the state senate and not a Democrat,” Hearn said.

Anderson said it strikes him that Wagner “is more interested in going after the Republican leadership in York County than he is actually about wanting the office.”

But Wagner said it’s not him they should be annoyed with. Their disappointment should be directed at the Republican Party leadership in Harrisburg that orchestrated the process for Miller, their hand-picked candidate, to gain the nomination for the seat vacated by Mike Waugh in January.

The winner of the special election will serve out the unfinished portion of Waugh’s term, which expires Nov. 30.

Wagner withdrew his name from consideration for the GOP nomination for the special election. He said the nine days between when the special election date was announced and when the York County Republicans held their nomination vote was too little time for him to make his case to the 100-plus committee members.

After he pulled out of that process, he said a groundswell of Republican, Democratic and independent supporters told him that they were either not going to vote in the special election or were going to write-in his name because they didn’t like the way the whole matter was handled.

That response sparked Wagner to begin his plan to run a write-in campaign, he said. He already has billboards up throughout the district and radio and TV ads running to promote his write-in bid.

“I’m doing this to win,” said Wagner, president of York-based Penn Waste. “I’m the best and most qualified candidate the district probably has seen in a long time. It’s amazing the people in Harrisburg are spending a tremendous amount of time working on keeping me from going to Harrisburg to represent the district.”

View full sizeWilliam "Ande" Anderson, a Republican candidate for the 28th state senatorial district in the May 20 primary, said Scott Wagner's write-in campaign will confuse voters.Submitted photo

Anderson said Wagner’s renegade attitude only serves to confuse people and “he may well give this to the Democrats with this approach.“

York County Democratic Chairman Bob Kefauver quipped, “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

On a more serious note, Kefauver said the only thing that Wagner’s candidacy possibly affects is it could cause his supporters to come out to the polls on March 18 rather than stay at home.

“Ron Miller has his core base of supporters who will come out on March 18 whether Scott is going to run a campaign or not,” Kefauver said. “But I don’t know how many Democrats would encourage Scott Wagner to get into this because Scott Wagner does not hold any of the same positions that a Democratic voter does.”

York County Republican Committee Chairman Bob Wilson could not be reached for comment for this story.

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